


What made you decide to give yourself to Beholding?

by PFDiva



Series: Hawk AU [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: elias being smarmy, hawk au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 09:37:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20468915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PFDiva/pseuds/PFDiva
Summary: The Archival Assistants answer a question.





	What made you decide to give yourself to Beholding?

Elias puts up a posting to find archival assistants before he kills Gertrude. She goes through them fast enough that it's not suspicious, and the Magnus Institute isn't full of folks who'd be good to groom into Beholding, but it's got enough.

He interviews Sasha first, as she's eager to leave Artifact Storage. She considers the question a moment, then replies, "Well, it's good for the career, innit? I mean, not _everybody_ in the upper echelons of academia is Beholding, but it helps, you know? And I've always wondered what it's like to be part of one of these fear groups. Rather like exclusive fraternities, only a little bit weirder. Beholding's just the only one that looked tempting. Which is the point, right? If it doesn't look good, you're not gonna get accepted anyway?"

"That does generally tend to be the case," Elias agrees, tactfully failing to mention the fact that it was attention, positive or negative, that did the trick. Sasha had plenty enough of that.

There's a few interviewees between Sasha and Tim, but Tim stands out. He's gregarious in a way Institute staff don't tend to be, and not bad looking to boot. He looks surprised by the question, then sobers very seriously, "I heard that Beholding and the Stranger are somewhat at odds. You can't _be_ a stranger if somebody knows you, right?"

Elias nods.

"They took my brother. Turned him into a doll and made him dance until he came apart at the seams. I want to hurt them. I want to hurt them and ruin them and make them suffer."

He pauses, visibly startled by his own vehemence, then he settles into it with a determination that makes Elias feel proud. He is a blunt weapon that Elias will be delighted to use at his own discretion.

Martin is the last, because the anxiety made his presence sweeter, and he had convinced himself he wouldn't be chosen, so he was at his most flustered and clumsy. It didn't matter for this interview, but it mattered for the interview after, which would be with his new archivist, though the man didn't know it yet. It would peak Jon's interest to see the man he doesn't know he's attracted to come sweating and stumbling out of Elias's office.

Martin thoughtfully repeats the question, clearly stalling for time while he figures out the "right" way to answer it. The answer's not good, but Elias never expected it to be.

Martin leaving the interview plays out precisely as Elias had intended it to, and Jon strides into his office in something of a huff, flustered by running into Martin and annoyed at himself for being flustered. It is perfection.


End file.
